Hamas said on Friday that it would release four female soldiers held hostage for over a year in Gaza, as part of a hostage-for-prisoner swap set to take place on Saturday, as Israelis and Palestinians anxiously await the next steps in the deal.
In a statement, Hamas named the four women, who were abducted from a military base near Gaza during the Hamas-led attack on Oct. 7, 2023, that kicked off the war. Israel said mediators between the two sides had passed along a list of names of hostages slated for release on Saturday, without confirming their identities.
Mediators hope that the six-week truce between Israel and Hamas, which began on Sunday, could lay the foundation for a permanent end to the war in Gaza. But the coming weekend could prove a crucial test for the agreement.
Under the terms of the deal, Israel would be expected to release around 200 Palestinian prisoners in exchange for the four women hostages on Saturday, including some serving life sentences for involvement in attacks on Israelis.
The truce also stipulated that around the four hostages’ release, Israeli forces would have to partly withdraw from a wide zone in central Gaza to allow hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians to begin heading back to their homes in the devastated north.
And Hamas has also committed to supplying Israel on Saturday with information about the condition of the remaining hostages to be released during the six-week truce, said two Israeli officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive diplomacy.
Israel has long demanded to know which hostages were still alive after more than 15 months in captivity in Gaza. Hamas has refused to provide the information, with some officials arguing that they could not even confirm their status before a truce allowed its fighters to move and communicate freely.
The 42-day cease-fire deal went into effect on Sunday, pausing the fighting between Israel and Hamas. Hamas agreed to release 33 of the remaining hostages in exchange for more than 1,000 Palestinians jailed by Israel and a partial Israeli withdrawal. During the pause, both sides agreed to discuss terms for a longer cease-fire.
Many on both sides saw the deal as a bittersweet moment. Gazans were grateful for a reprieve after 15 months of war that killed tens of thousands, even as they feared for their future in the enclave, much of which has been reduced to rubble.
Israelis experienced a moment of collective euphoria over the release of three female hostages — Romi Gonen, 24; Emily Damari, 28; and Doron Steinbrecher, 31. But their joy was tempered by scenes of Hamas fighters parading through the streets of Gaza in a show of force, despite Israeli leaders’ vows to destroy the group. As part of that exchange, Israel released 90 Palestinians held in Israeli prisons.
The war began after the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel that the Israeli authorities said killed roughly 1,200 and saw 250 taken hostage. Israel’s subsequent military campaign against Hamas in Gaza killed at least 45,000 people, according to local health officials, whose statistics do not distinguish between civilians and combatants.
Roughly 94 hostages still remain in Gaza, dozens of whom are presumed dead, according to the Israeli authorities. They include Israeli soldiers, male civilians, women and Thai migrant workers.
